Polio eradicated in Africa?

On August 21st Nigeria marked three years since its last documented case of wild polio. That means the country is set to be declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation-backed Global Polio Eradication Initiative. If that happens, probably next year, all of Africa will be officially free of the virus. Polio will remain in only Afghanistan and Pakistan; and one day it will be completely eradicated, like smallpox was in 1980.

However, the fight lives on. Afghanistan and Pakistan still have polio cases and many health experts worry that polio will spread from these countries to other places, including, Iran and as far as Africa. Time to recognize the progress made but not rest on our laurels.